Merry Christmas Everyone!

Needless to say, there won't be a yoga meet this Sunday. It's that time of year when we're all probably more in need of some yoga therapy but the classes are all on hiatus. Remember yoga is just a mat away. Chanel that ujjayi breath and salute the sun for ten minutes. It'll make a world of difference!

I'm Up With That Downdog!

Thanks to everyone who came along to Truby King Park for yoga yesterday! It's a quirky little park with one little flat spot suitable for "yoga-ing". It was a little slanty though (gave a new meaning to the old downward facing dog pose). Still, this is turning out to be a fabulous way to explore the parks of Welly and chill out on Sunday afternoon.

Yoga in the Park - Week Four

Last week was literally a blow out for park yoga, but tomorrow is supposed to be sunny as. The location this week is a rather obscure place past the Wellington Zoo called Truby King Park. It's just a few minutes drive (10 minute walk) past the zoo on Machester Terrace. You'll see the sign for the park on the left off Manchester St. It's a small park, so we won't miss each other once we're all there. Send me an email if you have any questions.


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Ooooo! Love that Anatomy!

Ever wondered what the difference between a sprain and a strain is? Been positively plagued by the fact that you didn't know? Well, today is the day you find relief from that" inflammatory" question. A strain is an injury to a muscle or it's tendon. It may range from a minor pull to a total tear. A sprain is an injury occurring at a joint when it is pushed out of its normal range of motion, resulting in over-stretching or even tearing of the tissue surrounding the joint (i.e. the ligaments, joint capsule or even the tendons). So a sprain can result in a strain if the muscle surrounding the bones is pulled/torn.

In general, muscles heal more readily than ligaments. Now I've got you dying to know why right? Simply on the edge of your seat. Muscle fibres have a rich blood supply, but ligaments, a form of dense connective tissue, do not. What's more, once ligaments are over-stretched, they do not go back to their original length.

So, be gentle with those yoga stretches! More is not necessarily better!

Windy Welly Exerts It's Mighty Force

Arghhh! No club meet today. Last week may have been breezy, but today was downright blow-you-down windy. I went to Parliament park just in case any brave soul decided to chance it. Saw some random guy walking around all bundled up in his sleeping bag. Oddly enough, that made more sense than attempting yoga outside today.

Yoga in the Park - Week Three

We've been very successful with park yoga so far. Good turn out and the weather, although breezy, has co-operated. Can we successfully tempt fate and make it three weeks in a row? Yes, yes we can. The inspiration for this Sunday's venue is from last week's climate change march to Parliament. I usually have no real reason to hang out at the Beehive, but last week was certainly an exception. Turns out, it's got a pretty nice park attached to it. So why not meet there Sunday at 1pm for our weekly yoga club gathering. No specific spot, just somewhere in the field once you enter the gate. Bring snacks for the after-yoga picnic!

New to the club perhaps? Check out my November Yoga in the Park blog for details

A Bit Breezy!

(A Creative Commons image)



Phew! That was definitely a different sort of yoga class today. Heard of "yogic flying"? Well, the famous/infamous Wellington wind practically took us there in the park this afternoon. Just a little bit breeee-zy. Thanks again to all who came! Good memories!

Hmmm... methinks it's on!

Let's give it a go I say!

Hmmm...

Well, yoga in the park today will have to be a play-it-by-ear event. Weather forecasts indicate increasing cloud and rain. But - this is Wellington after all and we all know how unpredictable the weather can be. I intend to be at the gardens by the look-off at 1pm (unless it's raining). I'll update any changes to that plan by 12pm.

Yoga in the Park

So this Sunday's park yoga will be at the botanical gardens (weather permitting of course). Let's meet at the cable car lookoff just before 1pm, then we can all make our way together to the top of a hill just a few feet away. Bring munchies. We'll picnic as well. Hope to see you there!

Ooooo! Love that Anatomy!

Time for another anatomy post! There are four muscles that flex the hand as a whole at the wrist. One of them, palmaris longus, is actually missing in about 14% of the population. It can be present on one hand, but not the other, or absent in both. Want to know if you're muscularly deficient, missing a palmaris longus tendon? Here's how: the tendon is quite superficial to the skin at the wrist (looking at your hand with your palm facing you). It lies at the center of your forearm in a line that points toward your 3rd finger (not your 2nd or 4th - there are other tendons in line with those). Resist bending/flexing your wrist with your other hand and, voila, your palmaris longus tendon becomes visible as a short, taut band lying amongst the veins at your wrist. That's if you own one! Oh, and don't worry if you don't. There's no evidence to suggest it actually makes a difference to your grip strength. So your downward dogs and arm balance poses will not suffer because of it!

The Bluest Sky

 


Thanks to everyone who came along for the very first unayoga club meet at Massey Memorial Park yesterday. There's something almost mind-altering about looking upwards in that backbend and seeing the expansive blue sky instead of the usual speckled ceiling. That triangle pose you've moved into a thousand times in the past all of a sudden becomes a completely new experience. It offers an opportunity to see your practice in a new light - something less rigid, less defined, and more open to possibility.

It's On!

Looks like our Massey Memorial meet is on after all. Might be a little wet, but we'll see how it goes. Look forward to seeing you all there at 1pm!

Una

The Summer Series....Yoga in the Park

A few weeks ago I went out walking in Wellington past the new Chocolate Fish cafe and, WOW, discovered Massey Memorial park for the first time. It's absolutely beautiful up there - views of the ocean all around, not to mention that Stonehenge-like feel of the Massey monument itself. It seemed to me like a place fit for some sort of sacrificial rite or, toning it down a little, a yoga class. So out of that afternoon was born "Yoga in the Park" - a yoga club meeting every Sunday afternoon in a park somewhere in the wilds of Welly to salute the sun and strike warrior poses with the wind blowing in our hair.

Here's the gist of it - we will meet for an hour of yoga on Sundays at 1 pm at a location that changes from week to week (weather permitting of course). Membership to the club will be $25, which will give you four yoga classes to use over the summer (it works out to an economical $6.25 per class). Sound like a good idea, but not sure if you want to join? Just come along to a session, give it a try, ad if and when you then decide to join, you will have three classes remaining.

Plus, we will surely have worked up an appetite after all those downward facing dogs, so feel free to bring a lunch for some picnicking too. I'll post the location for the week and whether or not the class is on that day on my blog. All you have to do is bring a mat, maybe a blanket for bundling up if you tend to get chilly. So let me know if you want to join and I'll forward info on how to pay and all those details.

This Sunday (the 29th November) will be at the site which inspired the whole thing in the first place - Massey Memorial. Never been? It's along Shelly Bay Rd., the first left turn before Miramar when you're driving from Evan's Bay. There's a little car park about a five-minute drive on the left side of the road with a small sign on the right indicating the memorial. Walk up a small hill/set of stairs and, voila, the memorial opens up to you in all it's glory.

Let me know if you're coming!


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Ooooo! Love that Anatomy!

Hi all and welcome to Unayoga!

This is my first foray into "blogdom" so be gentle with me. Those of you who know me at all know how passionate I am about anatomy and how it relates to yoga. Seriously, I just can't get enough information about phalanges, femurs or that pesky little piriformis muscle that irritates so many an individual usually without their knowledge (Discomfort deep in the buttocks? Periodic sciatica? That's pesky piriformis speaking to you.) So that's what this blog is about - interesting little tidbits of info I have or will glean about the body. Maybe you have questions or even something driving you nuts about yoga or a specific pose that you just need to talk about. Well, here's your chance. This is the forum. Go crazy.

Una